Can I Build My Own Storage Building?

The obvious answer is yes! You can build your own storage building, and if you do it right, you can have a fine product for storing your things, or any other suitable purpose. The first thing you will want to do is to find or draw up suitable plans. If you plan to make it movable, I highly recommend placing it on 4 inch wide skids at the beginning. These skids should be made of treated lumber due to ground contact.

Squareness

You will need to make sure that the building material is all cut to proper lengths, and remains square throughout the entire process. If you do not, you will have extremely aggravating problems through the whole process! If you are building on ground that is not completely level, you can not expect to keep the building plum and square using a spirit level. It will have to be done using a framing square.

The floor

The floor should be built with joists of at least 2×6 material spaced 16 inches apart on center, inside a frame of 2×6 material., and covered with half inch thick plywood at the very least.

Walls

Depending on your design, you will now want to add the upper framework with a bottom plate, studs and a top plate. This will provide the framework for the roof. Be certain to frame out a doorway, and add the extra support needed to keep the door from sagging as the years go by. You can build a door yourself, but I recommend buying one suitable for your purposes. Know exactly what size door you will be using before you try to frame out for it.

Roof framing

The roof will need to be built of 2×4 material, and either stick framed, or built with trusses nailed to the top plate.

Siding

Siding can be of any suitable material you desire, but I recommend using galvanized and painted sheet metal steel. This will need to be screwed into the rafters and studs, but first you will need to cut it to the proper size. Make sure that the sheets overlap in the right place before you start threading the screws into place. If you are going to seal the building, you will need to have your filler on hand before you start putting the steel into place.

Other options

If all this sounds a little daunting to you, you should consider buying one instead. don’t let that bother you, I know several framing contractors and general contractors who buy storage buildings from dealers rather than building them themselves! It ends up costing less to buy than to build, because the carpenters that would be building it can earn a lot more for the company by building homes than by building storage sheds. By the way, you can buy kits for building sheds, but, that is another story!